The effect of temperature on the lattice spacing around a notched Zircaloy-2 specimen determined from X-ray diffraction

Abstract

High intensity X-ray diffraction has been used to investigate lattice parameter and line width changes in a notched Zircaloy-2 compact tension specimen undergoing heating and cooling. It was found that the lattice spacing varied with temperature in part because of thermal expansion, but also because of annealing of residual stresses. Measurements made at many locations along the plane of the notch illustrate how the lattice spacing evolves throughout the specimen. Measurements of widths of the (1010), (1120), and (0002) diffraction peaks and comparisons of the line spacings, for both the a-parameter and c-parameter, with literature values of α-zirconium, at various temperatures, are used to demonstrate the effects of annealing.